"Beans. Beans. The musical fruit. The more you eat, the more you toot!"

1. Akron Beacon Journal headline: "Sawyer demands Sutton Apologize"
2. Petro attack website on Blackwell
3. Rasmussen Polls:
---->Strickland 52% / Blackwell 35%
---->Striclkand 51%, Petro 31%
---->Dewine 43% / Brown 41%

Related: I've made a bet with one of my Republican friends Ben Keeler for the primary. Ben believes Ken Blackwell will win and I think it will be Jim Petro. The winner will get to write a post on the losers website about whatever they want.

I didn't catch the Akron Beacon Journal yesterday, but my letter to the editor was printed. I had titled it "Do Unto Other Democrats," which summarized the point of my letter. Unfortunately, they changed the title. Here it is as it was printed:

Democrats duking it out
I am disappointed in how Betty Sutton's campaign has gone after fellow Democrat Tom Sawyer. Primaries should be about a candidate's accomplishments and vision. I had the chance to hear Sutton speak at Cafe Momus and was excited about her candidacy. Her positive, upbeat message I heard stands in stark contrast to the negative ads and gimmicky Web sites I see now. As a proud Democrat, I'll be thinking about the tone taken by each candidate when I cast my vote Tuesday.
-Kyle Kutuchief, Akron

The Lowest Yet: A new CNN poll has Bush's approval at 32%. This is the lowest yet. This headline is sort of stale (even though he keeps reaching new depths), so I promise I will not speak up again until he hits the 20's.

Rick Santorum: He is the least popular member of the Senate. He is so unpopular, its disappointing PA Dems didn't run a stronger liberal against him. That same poll shows that 5 of the 6 least popular are Republicans. Surprisingly, Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska is most popular.

Katherine "The Slut" Harris: She is desperate. So desperate she has resorted to trying to bang college reporters. Click here for details and pictures of her slutty conduct. Disgraceful. What's worse.....Florida Republicans are actually voting for this woman!

Christians Against Hip Hop: I cannot figure out if this site is serious. It appears to be serious. Sort of funny, since there is like a porn star on the front page.

CIA Spy Speaks Out: "The war in Iraq was coming. And they were looking for intelligence to fit into the policy, to justify the policy." What's worse, when the intelligence wasn't cooperating, he was told, "'Well, this isn't about intel anymore. This is about regime change.'"

Condi The Leaker: According to court proceedings, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leaked national defense information to a pro-Israel lobbyist in the same manner that landed a lower-level Pentagon official a 12-year prison sentence. Condi denies this. I say lock her up, with no trial. That is how these Republicans need to be handled: Locked up, Gitmo-style!

The Chief Source proudly endorses Tom Sawyer for Ohio's 13th Congressional District in the May 2nd primary. Mr. Sawyer's resume speaks for itself. He is a former school teacher, State Representative, Mayor of Akron, and served as Member of Congress for 16 years. There aren't that many public officials, let alone Democrats in Ohio, with that kind of experience. Our hometown newspaper The Akron Beacon Journal put it best: "Let's cut quickly to the chase: Tom Sawyer is the class of this field -- by far."

In our meeting with him, we found him passionate about his work and sincere. In addition, we like the fact that Sawyer is willing to admit his mistakes and learn. We need more public officials like that in office. We believe he is our best candidate for November's general election.

At family picnics, coffee shops, work, school and the other places we talk politics (which is pretty much everywhere), those who are backing other candidates in the primary offer the same basic criticism of Sawyer: "He isn't what he used to be." That may be true and honestly we don't know. We do know that he knows the issues better than the competition. If someone wants to fire up the Delorian and bring back 1986 Tom Sawyer to run against 2006 Tom Sawyer, then we'll consider and endorse accordingly. Until that happens, we are left to look at what he is now and compare him to the other candidates.

1. Betty Sutton - She went negative and turned us off. We were on the fence between Sutton and Sawyer in March. We truly liked Sutton, however, campaigns have the opportunity to take the high road or the low road against a fellow Democrat. Sutton took the road more traveled by, and that has made all the difference to us.

2. Capri Cafaro - Everyone loves talking about Capri. She is definitely the water cooler candidate and keeps things interesting. We think an internship in Congressman Sawyer's office would be a better fit because her resume needs help. Her lack of experience is a serious problem and would make her chum for the sharks in November.

3. Gary Kucinich - We haven't seen much of Gary down here in Summit County. He's obviously focused on his home turf in Lorain. We wish him well in this primary race and hope that he can take votes away from Capri.

With all that said, we are proud Democrats and team players. We will vigorously support whoever wins the primary. It is going to be a fun race to watch and is less than a week away. May the best Democrat win.

I think it’s time we review the Republican Contract with America, which was signed by over 300 Republican Congressional candidates (incumbents included) at a press conference on September 27, 1992. I’ve made a few comments in Italics, but I think it’s evident that the Republicans broke nearly every facet of their contract.

First, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress; (Chuckle)
Second, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse; (That's a good idea)
Third, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third; (Fine, but keep them bipartisan, and try to hold meetings during the day)
Fourth, limit the terms of all committee chairs; (yes!)
Fifth, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee; (obviously)
Sixth, require committee meetings to be open to the public; (Anyone remember the Energy bill meetings? )
Seventh, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase; (Could we also require 3/5 to pass a tax cut for the wealthy?)
Eighth, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting. ( Bush wants to instate line item vetoes)

1. The Fiscal Responsibility Act (wait...I've just fallen off my chair laughing)
2. The Taking Back Our Streets Act
3. The Personal Responsibility Act ... prohibiting welfare to minor mothers and denying increased AFDC for additional children while on welfare.
4. The Family Reinforcement Act (Just how did those tax cuts help families who can't afford to pay their bills?)
5. The American Dream Restoration Act (My dream - to be able to keep my car and still afford to put gas in it.)
6. The National Security Restoration Act - READ THE MEMOS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!
7. The Senior Citizens’ Fairness Act (Prescription drug debacle - who did that help?)
8. The Job Creation and Wage Enhancement Act (More jobs created, more people living below poverty. Thanks a bunch.)
9. The Common Sense Legal Reform Act
10. The Citizen Legislature Act - 12 year term limits. The contract was signed in 1994. Twelve years later is 2006. If they keep their promise, those 300 will not run again.

Let's pick our favorite act of the Contract - either the most blatenly broken piece, the most immoral act, or the one we would like to see actually enforced. This is fun . . .

Today at the BBC, there is an article about a new, flourishing "haven for wildlife" in the Ukraine. This spot, which is "a nature reserve in all but name" has seen the resurgence of many long-lost species such as: lynx, eagle owl, great white egret, European bison, boar, elk, otter, raccoon dog, wolf and even something called the "azure tit."

How exactly has this reserve been so successful? What is the secret to its revitalization?
The answer is: lethal doses of radioactive material.

This area that I'm describing is also known as the Red Forrest. It is the area surrounding the site of the world's worst nuclear power accident: Chernobyl. It was almost exactly 20 years ago today, that an explosion in the Soviet power plant released enough radioactive material to clear 4 square kilometres of pine forest, dissolve mice embryos and disintegrate horse thyroids within a 20-mile radius.

But today, Chernobyl nuclear power station is "teeming" with life. [See aerial photograph] How can this be? Well as one man put it, "There may be plutonium in the zone, but there is no herbicide or pesticide, no industry, no traffic, and marshlands are no longer being drained."

In other words, we don't F with them anymore. Even the cattle here are safe (seeing as they're too radioactive for BBQ.) Not-so-shockingly, the benefits to the environment of simply removing people, have far outweighed the harm from the worst radioactive catastrophe in history!

So it seems, for these animals frolicking/hobbling amongst the "misshapen trees," paradise has finally been realized. (That is, at least for those whose thyroids can bear it.)